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Saturday, December 20, 2008

Where was I? Oh, let's see, yeah, da boyz and I were headed to Carlinville. We arrived there around 5:30 (Central) Saturday. We were greeted by by Buckner, Skip and Beth's dog (a Great Pyrenees). None of the dogs really knew how to react to the other. Hunter and Clyde mostly tried to hide behind me.

We drank a few beers, watched the dogs play, and then decided to head uptown to Angus Bailey's for some dinner. I forget now what I had, but I can assure you it was teh yummeh! I love that place because they have such a varied menu, and the portions on huge.

Buckner, Beth, and Hunter

We spent Sunday getting the garage ready for the big Thanksgiving feast. Skip vacuumed the big rug (which terrified Hunter for the longest time), set up the tables, and then he and I had the best time decorating the "Thanksgiving" tree. It turned out really cool.

In the afternoon, Skip took da boyz and me to visit my mother-in-law, Gloria, at the nursing home. She's had Alzheimer's for years now, but the illness has progressed very quickly of late, and it's heartbreaking.

When we arrived, Skip said, "Hi, Mom, do you know who I am?" and she very politely replied, "No, I don't believe I do."

Skip led us down the hall so that I could see her room and we could get her jacket. Skip and Beth have seen to it that she has all of her special things -- photos, her favorite chair, things like that. She told me that everyone there is very nice and she likes it there.

After we'd retrieved her jacket, we went back down the hallway to head outside when I discovered a "deposit" on the sparkling floor left by one of mah boyz! One of the aides cleaned it up for me since I didn't have any of my plastic bags with me. Doh!

We went outside to sit on the bench she likes to sit on. We didn't have a conversation really, but it was nice to sit with her and she seemed to enjoy petting Hunter. He loved it! After about 15 minutes, Gloria was ready to go back inside. A young lady was there doing manicures. Skip helped Gloria select a new color besides the bright pink she'd had on.

While Skip went to back to set Glo's TV to FOX so that she could watch football later that afternoon, I stayed in the commons area with Clyde and Hunter. They were perfectly behaved! One resident in particular, really loved petting them. I was so proud of mah boyz, and it made me feel good that they brightened the day for so many people. This is what I hope we can do on a regular basis in the future.

My niece, Jessica, came over later in the afternoon along with her puppy, Reilly. Take a look...

We had the best time just watching those three little fellas!

Sunday evening, I took the boys out to potty around 10:30 and had a smoke. It was so cold and Hunter is still scared of the stairs. I got he and Clyde up on the deck and decided I couldn't put that cig out on the deck because it would leave

a nasty black spot. I spied the planter nearby and thought, "Aw, well, I can just put it out in there and then head upstairs with the boys."

Around 3:30 a.m. I heard commotion downstairs -- Beth calling very loudly for Skip. I went back to sleep, but wondered why she was getting up so early for work. We woke up around 8:30, I threw on some clothes so that I could take the pups out to potty. Skip came in and said, "Good morning", but not in his usual jovial tone.

"Well, good morning, Skip, how are you today?"

He had an odd look on his face, and he hesitated before speaking.

"Skip, are you OK? Is something wrong?" I'm getting scared now because he's a pretty laid back guy most of the time.

Skip finally said, "Uh, yes mostly, but we've had a bit of a problem." He put his arm around me, helped me with getting the leashes on the pups, and led me out onto the deck. What I saw -- well, it just sent me into a state of shock. It took a few seconds for the sight to sink in before I realized that I HAD SET THEIR HOUSE ON FIRE! OMG! I started bawling!

He was kind enough to let me cry on his shoulder, held me, and then he said,

"We need some coffee. I can't figure out how to work that new coffee maker, so I'm going to take Buckner in the truck to get us some."

Hunter was so upset about me crying and being upset, he couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't stop shaking and eventually felt like I was going to be very ill. The damage is rather minimal when I think what it could've been, but that's when I get nauseous -- again! I am so grateful that Beth decided to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom at 3:30 a.m. I still can't believe that it happened. GAH

4 comments:

The dirt in the planter was very dry, it was quite windy, and I obviously didn't stub the cigarette out completely. The soil smoldered until it got to the cocoa liner causing the entire planter to become a glowing red "log" attached to their house.